Pick Five

Sometimes, even after my second cup of morning coffee, I'm still engulfed by a paralyzing sense of "tedium overload" as I look at a pile of dirty clothes to wash; a stack of bills with due dates unexplored; papers to file, or new file-homes to create for those papers; dishes to wash; dogs and cats wanting breakfast...(goodness, even listing the tasks makes me want to go back to bed this very minute!)
 

What is a healthy, positive-thinking, goal-oriented person to do in the face of such dreariness?

Time to play a game I call "Pick Five." I really want to share this with those of you who, like me, want to feel a sense of accomplishment even in the face of a written or mental "to-do" list longer than the grass on the front lawn (which needs mowing, by the way). Pick Five is simple and brilliant and brings me back to life when I feel defeated before I even start.

Here it goes: simply pick five tasks - your choice - from that list of yours. Then have at it! Depending on your level of motivation, which could be depressingly low, you can choose "big" or "little" chores. They just need to add up to five in number. And you need to complete them - remember, it's just five, not the whole ridiculous list!

The effect of finishing those five items and keeping even that much of a promise to myself to chip away at dauntingly endless chores, can turn my day around. That is, it seems to turn my attitude around, because the good feeling I get from just making that much of an effort often leads to doing more on the list. And even if I just complete the five, I still get to feel a sense of accomplishment instead of disappointment in myself for putting off what I know I need to do...

Give this a try. But if it doesn't work for you, you might want to back down to "Pick Four" or "Pick Three." There's magic in the numbers, and in that little, doable promise. Maybe it's that there's something inherently positive in fulfilling a promise. For me, the resulting boost turns drudgery into winning at my own game!